The Ultimates

Eleven

When we walked into my house, Chiaki was kicking Kazuichi's butt at Super Smash Bros, as per usual. Though, this time, he was getting better at it. "Oh, oh, oh! Fuck! Damn, Hajime," Kazuichi exclaimed, jerking back to face me, "did you see that? That was the furthest I've ever gotten at beating her."

"It was impressive," I chuckled. "Nagito, this is Kazuichi, and that's Chiaki."

"Hey, man, it's nice to meet you," Kazuichi smiled.

"Welcome, Nagito," Chiaki greeted. "We're glad you were able to come tonight."

"Thank you," he beamed.

"Come on. You can put your stuff in my room," I said, leading Nagito upstairs to my room. It was very basic. The walls were painted dark gray, and the floors were hardwood with a large white carpet. The bed was pressed in the middle of the wall with dark blue covers, and I had my desk next to the window, which could see into Makoto's room. My black dresser leaned against the wall across the bed with a TV mounted on the wall. On my dresser were a bunch of pictures of all my friends throughout the years.

Nagito placed his bag at the edge of my bed, looking around in awe. "You have a nice room."

"Thank you."

Looking at my dresser, he scanned all the pictures. "These are all my neighbors. We all grew up together, so we're all very close."

Pointing at a picture of Aoi and Sakura at Prom, he said, "That girl looks familiar."

"That's Aoi Asahina. She lives in the house at the end of the cul-de-sac with her girlfriend Sakura's family."

"Why does she look so familiar though? I feel like I saw her on TV."

"Oh, she's an Olympic Gold Medalist for swimming."

Jerking his head to me, he gawked. "And you just grew up with her?"

"Yup. She's one of my best friends. She now helps run the gym in town that's connected to Sakura's family's dojo. Sakura is one of the best MMA fighters in the world."

"Wow," he murmured.

"And that's Kyoko," I added, pointing to a picture of her at Makoto's eleventh birthday party. "She's currently away at boarding school but will be back soon. We're all excited to finally have her come back home. And that's Ibuki. She lives in the light purple house. She's in a punk rock band that's currently getting really popular. She already had her debut EP at 23 on the punk charts, and it's still continuing to rise."

"What's her band's name?"

"Band Aid."

"Sounds like a punk band," he chuckled. "You have a lot of amazing friends."

"I'm proud of all of them," I shrugged. "I grew up with them, and they've all worked hard to get to where they are now. I'll do anything to help them out. After all, I'm their biggest supporter."

"You're a good friend, Hajime," Nagito giggled. "What about your friends downstairs?"

"Kazuichi is a very gifted mechanic, and Chiaki is a popular gamer. You can go against her in any game, and she will win every time. She's incredible."

Glancing at the door, Nagito bit his lip and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Don't worry," I assured him, placing my hands on his shoulders, "they're some of the nicest people in the world. They're already super excited to meet you, and I know you will all get along great. If I didn't think you all would, I wouldn't have invited them."

Nagito's face relaxed, and he went back to smiling.

The doorbell rang, and I walked downstairs with Nagito trailing behind me. "Pizza is here," Kazuichi called out as he carried the boxes into the kitchen. "Nagito, we weren't sure what kind you liked, so we got peperoni and a plain cheese."